title: Relationship between skin prick and atopic patch test reactivity to aeroallergens and disease severity in children with atopic dermatitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The immunological mechanism in aetiology of atopic dermatitis (AD) shows significant differences from other allergic diseases. Allergen inhalation exacerbates AD lesions and AD patients' complaints decrease in house dust mite (HDM) low level environments, which reveals the importance of inhalant allergens.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the skin prick test (SPT) and atopy patch test (APT) positivity rates with aeroallergens and studied the effect of test results, and aimed to determine the value of allergic test reactivity on the clinical characteristics of children with AD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-five children aged 2-15 years with AD were included to study between May 2006 and May 2007 in GATA Haydarpasa Teaching Hospital, Allergy Department. The reactivity to inhalant allergens using SPT and APT was evaluated. The severity of AD, which was assessed with SCORAD, was compared with aeroallergen hypersensitivity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The highest positivity of APT was seen against HDM (48.9%). HDM SPT positivity and subjective symptoms score were statistically correlated (P<0.05). Patients with strong SPT positivity to HDM had a higher total SCORAD score (P<0.05). Although there was no statistical correlation between HDM APT and SCORAD parameters, APT positive patients had generally higher SCORAD parameters. The statistical significance was only shown between the extent of the disease and strong APT positive reactions to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HDM allergens play an important role in determining the clinical severity of AD and strong APT positivity could be more meaningful clinically.
authors.affiliation: GATA Haydarpasa Training Hospital, Department of Allergy, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kutlu
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karabacak
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aydin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozturk
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Taskapan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aydinoz
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bozkurt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000276:immunology; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000818:Animals; D039741:Antigens, Dermatophagoides; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010328:Patch Tests; D039981:Pyroglyphidae / Q000276:immunology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012882:Skin Tests
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D039741:Antigens, Dermatophagoides
keywords: Atopic dermatitis; Atopic patch test; SCORAD; Skin prick test